Thursday evening, I came back to school to find Isaac setting up some lights for making a movie. I couldn't resist helping out, and some unexpected things happened. Let's just say, after the production of this movie, I literally laid on the floor laughing hysterically!! For a very fun (and short) ad-lib video, involving Isaac, Sam, and I, go to Isaac's blog here, and watch the "Shoulder Angels" video. Let me know what you think.

Ryan

Tags: fun, Politics, Movie

We had a surprise birthday party for my Mom yesterday at my Grandpa and Grandma's house in Waynesfield, OH. I will gracefully brush past the potentially uncouth age question, and simply state that it involved black balloons. It was a lot of fun. My brothers both came down/over for the event, as well as other family members. I got to see my newest neice, Jayla, for the first time! She is so cute. It runs in the family just kidding. I was able to take a few snapshots of my family as well. The product of said snapshots is evidenced below.

Missionary Convention started tonight with Don Richardson, author of Peace Child. It was fascinating! I was spellbound. If only I could speak like that (as I hear echoes of 2 Cor. 10:12 telling me not to compare myself). It should be a really good convention!

For those of you, who would be so kind, please pray that I can get caught up on my homework. This week is going to be extremely busy, and I am 6' under before I even start. I could really use some divine enabling!

Ryan

Tags: Family, fun, Photography

I was just getting into bed yesterday morning (12:30am) when my friend Shane called me and asked if I wanted to go on a trip to IHOP. It seems that he and my other friend, Brandon, had tons of homework to do for the next day, and thought IHOP would be a conducive place to do it. It sounded good to me, so off we go, traipsing through the night at 1 in the morning to IHOP. You know, you see some interesting sights at IHOP at 1am...most of which you wish you hadn't...'nuff said. What better way to spend the very early hours of a Friday morning than eating pancakes and laughing with friends? You would be amazed at what you find amusing at 1:30-2:00am So, after the food, we got down to homework, and hacked away till about 3:00 when our adrenaline began to wane. We looked a sight. We finally headed back to GBS a little after 3, and made the unduly laborious trek up to the colossal height of the 5th floor. I crashed around 3:30, and got back up at 6am for my 7am class. It was a most unique feeling. I went through the class in something akin to a stupor. Perhaps, "languid" or "lethargic" would be a better adjective (well, technically, a better object of a preposition, right? No. Any English majors?). It was a strange experience. Thankfully, I was able to power nap right after that, because I didn't have a class for another 50min.. But, all things considered, it was worth it. It's like my Mom said, "Enjoy it while your young, because if you do that when you get old, it'll mess you up for three days."








No wonder everybody was looking at us funny

Ryan

p.s. In case you can't tell, I haven't yet recovered from my depravation of sleep, hence my scatty prose. Mr. Profitt would not be impressed...

Tags: Homework, fun, Friends, IHOP

Today was the annual Fall Picnic here at GBS, and it was a gorgeous day for it! It was nice and sunny, but not too warm. I started off with my camera permanently enmeshed with my hand, but eventually broke away from that for some fun of a differnt nature. Frisbee was a highlight of the day, as well as sand volleyball (we dominated ). The food was good, as always. However, I am now being plagued with angst due to my lack of completd homework. It's really beginning to pile up. So, I stand at the scales so many college students face. Was the social enrichment worth the shortfall of completed homework? Do you create good memories, or get an A? I guess it all comes down to a balance between the two (how did you like that cop out ). Oh well, I guess I will stop philosophizing about it, and just do it. If you would like to see some photos from the day, I have posted some here under "Fall '08 Semester".

Ryan

Tags: Relax, fun, Picnic

A lot has happened over the past few weeks, and, unfortunately, I don't have the time to give a lot of details about it all. So, I will resort to a much quicker (and easier for you) way, pictures! Thanks for reading/viewing.

I've been spending a lot of time over at my brothers house. We played a game of chess the other day for the first time in a while. It nearly ended in a stalemate because we think so much alike we anticipated each others moves. Katie officiated, of course .


Our church had its VBS with the theme "Custom Built Garage". I helped out where I could. It was a lot of work for those involved! But rewarding.


Mom and Kara (my sister-in-law) planned a secret excursion for Jason and I last Saturday, and we just had to be along for the ride and guess what came next. It was a blast! Our first stop turned out to be a train ride in a nearby town. I have lived in Adrian for 21 years, but I've never actually ridden the train. Katie loves "Thomas the Train", so she was in heaven. It was a really fun experience.


We then went out for ice cream and a cool place called Handels Ice Cream, and then headed back to Adrian for our final stop. Those of you who know me know that I dearly love to ice skate! And I was overjoyed to find out that was our destination as we neared the ice arena. They dropped off Jason and I, and went to pick up a few groceries while we skated. The place was nearly empty, and so I had some freedom to try a few new things. I'm slowly improving.


A couple days later we went back over to Jason and Kara's for a very good meal, followed by one of my favorite deserts, homemade sugar donuts!! I can eat these things till I'm sick!


Last Thursday, my cousins, aunt, and grandma came up for another ice skating excursion. Again, a lot more fun!


I am now writing this (somewhat hurriedly) from my Uncle Dan's house for my cousin Amber's birthday party. Her boyfriend, Seth Fish, and friend Amber Petty, are also here to help celebrate. It has been a blast!

Clayton goofing off.


Making pizza rolls for dinner


Seth


Amber


Amber


Their very spoiled (and aristocratic) dog, Buddy.

Well, it's after midnight and I need to get to bed. I will try and post a more substantive post at a later date. Have a good day.

Ryan

Tags: Summer, Family, fun

Here is another thing I can check off my list of life goals...kill a bat. Here's the story. I was working steadily away at my job around 11pm last Thursday when I suddenly get two text messages from my Mom. The first says, "a bat is in the house" the second says "frantic!" I bust out laughing!! In fact I walk down the hall laughing loud enough for probably all of my coworkers to hear. I, of course, being the good son I am , leave work immediately to make the 15 min. trek home to rescue my "frantic" mother from her ferocious nemesis. She had, of course, by this time barricaded herself in her room. I love to play racquetball, and I happened to be carrying my racquet in the trunk of my car, along with some old towels. So, I cautiously walk into the house armed with my racquet and towel. Then, I spotted it. It was hanging from the ceiling in the living room.


So, I paused long enough to take a few pictures, and then, went to work. I twirled up the towel, and 'snapped' it at the bat. It, of course, took off flying around the house. I ducked several times as it flew above my head, it was great fun! It then made a most grievous error. It flew down the hall, and then headed straight back toward me. And there I stood, racquet in hand, ready for the assault. I recalled all the skills I had gained in my love of racquetball, and with one deft overhanded slam, sent the foul fowl to its death. It bounced off my racket, hit the wall, and landed in the chair, never to rise again. Using the towel I picked it up, and deposited it outside. Mission accomplished.


Ryan - 1
Bats - 0
Bring it on!

Ryan
P. S. I hope you have enjoyed my slightly dramatized account of this infamous incident in the Watters' household

Tags: fun, bat

I had an accident. I left a bottle of hand sanitizer in my car, and it, and due to high temperatures, melted and ran all over in my change dish. Because this happened at GBS, I was too busy studying to take care of it immediately (hey, do you have a better excuse? ) and it sat in there for...a while. It corroded the coins and something, I don't know exactly what it was, was produced all over the coins. I really wasn't sure how to clean up the coins after I got home from GBS, and we didn't have the right cleaning supplies, so I decided to put it to the ultimate test, and submerge them in a bowl filled with coke overnight. The results were...disturbing. It cleaned off probably 60-70% of the unknown substance from the coins! I wish I had take "before" pictures, but here are a few "after" shots.



Enjoy your next glass of Coke!

Ryan

Tags: fun, Test, Coke

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Choir Tour '08. It would take too much time out of a busy college student's life (with a huge Life of Christ test Monday, I might add) to narrate each of these pictures. So I simply post them for your viewing enjoyment. However, if you wish, you might try narrating them yourself, I'm sure that could be quite amusing

Ryan

Tags: Photography, fun, Choir, Friends, Concert, Crazy

It has been an action packed beginning for the '08 GBS Choir Tour. We left at 7:40 am Thursday morning under very cold conditions. I eventually fell asleep and woke up a few hours later to see the front window of the bus covered in a solid sheet of ice. So, the bus crept along at a the rate of a sloth before all traffic eventually came to a dead halt. The entire road was a solid sheet of ice! Ahead was a hill that under normal conditions was small, but, covered in ice, proved insurmountable. There was a semi in the ditch, a car in the other ditch, and traffic as far as the eye could see. A group of us actually got out and "ice-skated" down the I65 freeway in Kentucky.




We were stuck there for about 3-4 hours before we eventually turned around and headed back to a truck stop to eat. It was packed! There were all kinds of people. In fact, there was a group of people from Campus Crusades for Christ there. We got to talking to the representative, and he told me that he was traveling with Andre Cole, the Christian illusiionist, and that he was sitting in the back booth. I found this so ironic as I had went to one of his shows about 10 years ago at the Christian Family Center. He is the one circled in the picture below.



We barely got to the service in time. We actually didn't even have time to change or set up risers or PA equipment. And so we sang, just as we were. But, the Lord came, and we had a tremendous service. After getting all packed up after the service we got on the bus and headed out. Unfortunately, we never made it out of the parking lot. After cutting a corner too sharp the back passenger tire ended up in a ravine, suspended off the ground. So, out go all the students and the guys get on the back of the bus and tried (in vain) to push it out. Alas, we returned to the church, hopelessly defeated. It was fun though just sitting around playing games, and talking.


A wrecker was called in and eventually the bus was loosed and we were on the road again. We got into Pell City, AL about 2 am Friday morning. The good thing was we got to sleep in the next day. What a blessing! We left at 7 am this morning from Pell City, and we are headed to Ocala, Florida. We have very nice weather so far, and you certainly don't need a coat! In the words of Mr. Davison, "We're suffering for Jesus!" Well, we stop in 11 miles to eat at (what else...) McDonalds. It seems that's all we ever do on tour, eat, eat, eat. I will try and post more later. See yah.

Ryan

Tags: GBS, Personal, Photography, Relax, Choir, fun

A few weeks ago my Grandparents came up for a visit and we went to Kelly's Island (around Port Clinton, OH). For those of you who have never been there, you ride a ferry over and then rent a golf cart and ride around the island and look at the beautiful scenery. It's really a lot of fun, especially for a photographer! Enjoy!

Tags: Grandparents, Kelly's Island, Photography, fun

I ran across this little toy in Cracker Barrel the other day, the gyroscope. I remembered how much fun I used to have with them growing up, and since it was not that expensive I picked one up. They still fascinate me! If you've never seen one in action there quite a marvel! They will balance on just about anything. My fellow INTJ'ers (see previous post here) would probably also take a special interest in this toy simply to try and understand how it works. The simple mechanics of it is to simply thread the string around the axle and then pull the string off hard which makes the inward wheel spin at a terrific speed. This makes the gyroscope balance so well. I guess this is physics at work. For more pictures go here. Enjoy!

Ryan

Tags: Toy, fun, Gyroscope

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Ryan

Tags: Photography, Fireworks, fun

What have I been up to so far this summer. It's really quite simple. I can actually put it in one word. Work! I'm working one full time job, and I'm thinking about looking for a second part time job. Fun, fun. Oh well, you gotta live I guess. But, yeah, that's my life right now. Sleep, eat, work. Then repeat.... I will, however, be participating in my good friend, and pastor, Michael's wedding on Saturday. I have to go pick up my tux on Friday. It should be fun! I'm excited for him. If you haven't noticed, I haven't posted very many pictures lately. I do apologize for this, and I will try and take some more photos to post soon. Well, I guess that's all for now. I hope your summer is going well! See yah.

Ryan

Tags: Summer, Life, fun, Break

\
School is officially over TOMORROW! And the student's of God's Bible School & College are getting a little stir crazy! We want to go home! Ahh, the countdown begins...13 hours, 41 minutes, 55 seconds.....54 seconds..... 53 seconds.....

Ryan

Tags: Last day, GBS, Crazy, fun, Break

Student Council had a special event today where you could go to one of four events, and they would reimburse you up to $20 for any expenses that you incurred. You can't pass up an opportunity like that! So, Megan and I went with a group of about eighteen GBS students to the Cincinnati Zoo. We had a wonderful time! The weather couldn't have been any better, and we got a parking spot about 20' from the entrance. It was a nice zoo, with lot's of exhibits. I think one of our favorite exhibits was of some small penguins. We had a blast just watching them, and trying to analyze/commentate what they were doing. "Mutiny!" "Retreat! Retreat!" "World domination!" were just a few of the expressions that were clearly evidenced by these 'cute' little penguins... After leaving the zoo most of the group then went to Outback Steakhouse and enjoyed a delicious meal. Everyone had an awesome time. To see some pictures from the zoo, go here, and scroll to the bottom of the page. I hope this tradition is continued!

Ryan

Tags: Zoo, Friends, Photography, fun

Tuesday was the annual GBS Spring Picnic, in which there are no classes for the day and all the faculty, staff, and students go to a nearby park. It was a beautiful day! There were many activities. From softball and footbal to unicycling and rowboating, we had it. I spent a long time out on the lake with Megan and a couple of friends rowing around. We were occasionally 'attacked' by some fellow GBS'ers who were the 'pirates' of the lake and went around stealing peoples shoes off their boats and delivering them to other GBS'ers. It was a lot of fun! If you would like to see some pictures of it simply go here. Enjoy!

Ryan

Tags: Picnic, fun

Here are a few random pictures that I like from Choir Tour. I will post more later. Enjoy.

Ryan

Tags: Choir, GBS, fun

Could it be? Another snow day?! YES! God truly is good to the students of GBS We received word tonight that because of the layers of ice that coat everything there will be no school tomorrow. I can not express to you how much ice is covering everything. They warned us this afternoon that if any of our cars are parked under trees we better move them because the branches are beginning to break. It is absolutely treacherous to go down the ramp to the dining hall! In fact, one student simply sat down and without any pushing glided down. There are also 60,000 people in Cincinnati without power! I pray that it doesn't hit us! Well, tomorrow will be yet another day of homework that I still didn't get caught up on today. It's a vicious cycle. If you're in this storm stay inside, and stay safe.

Ryan

Tags: Snow, Ice, fun, GBS

I did something yesterday that I have never done before, I went skiing! Yesterday was the group ski where a bunch of people from GBS get together and go skiing. So, with some coaxing from a friend (thanks Zack) I consented to go. I admit to being slightly trepidatious about injury to my person, but I pushed past my fears and had a wonderful time! The ski lodge was extremely crowded, in fact I had to borrow a friends ski polls at first because they did not have any left. After a couple times down the Bunny Hill (what a derogatory name!) my teacher felt I was adequately prepared for a more challenging hill, one requiring a ski lift. After reaching the top (and nearly falling on my departing of the lift) I stood at the top of what seemed to me to be a precariously steep hill. However, with a little coaxing and coaching I soon began my descent. I was actually not doing too bad when all of a sudden, it happend. My skis went out from under me and down I went! Thankfully it was an easy fall and I was soon back on my feet and laughing at the sight I must have been. After a while she took my poles away from me, which turned out to be a good thing since it is easier to keep your balance. All in all I only fell four times, which I felt wasn't too bad for a first timer. By the end of the day I was taking a moderately sized hill without any problems. So, what did I learn from today? I learned that I absolutely love skiing! This is definitely something I will continue!

Ryan

Tags: Ski, Relax, fun, Friends

Credit for this blog goes to Jon Bart at www.jonbart.com. He has a blog on his site today that brought much laughter to my afternoon. It is a link to a compilation of Calvin & Hobbs comic stips concerning snowmen. Remember, I am not affiliated with this external link and you should always use discression when surfing the internet. Here is the link. Enjoy!

Ryan

Tags: Relax, fun

In English Composition 2 class we are discussing poetry, and Mr. Profitt brought in a few poems for us to listen to. Later, I was able to find them online where they are readily distributed. So, I decided I would pass a couple of them on to you. The first one is Flames, and the second is Marginalia. They are both neat little poems. Enjoy!

Ryan

Tags: fun

We ventured out into the blistering cold this fine evening to go, where else, but ice skating! It's been a while since I have been ice skating and I couldn't wait! There were eight of us in the group, and we had an absolute blast! It was very crowded tonight, but it provided a fun obstacle course We skated for around 1 1/2 hours before heading out to the always acceptable Starbucks. I tried to take a lot of pictures which you can see here. Hope your night was as enjoyable as mine!

Ryan

Tags: Iceskate, fun, Friends

I was recently reacquainted with a game I recieved a couple of years ago for Christmas. I ran across it while at home on break and brought it back to school with me. I have since become slightly addicted. The game is essentailly a mind puzzle. Each of the cars on the board have their own track that they follow either up or down, or left or right. The object of the game is to get the red car through the opeing on the other side of the board. It comes with 40 cards that give you various setups, beginning with easy levels and moving to expert. You have to shift the cars all around in order to find the right pattern to allow the red car to escape. There can be up to 50 different steps (expert level) in order for this to occur. It is a remarkably fun game, if you enjoy puzzles.

Ryan

Tags: Toy, fun, Rushhour

Some friends and I ventured out into the blistering cold (ha ha) weather tonight to the Newport area. They have a bookstore there with a balcony where I was able to take some cool shots. We then walked across the Purple People Bridge and circled back on a parallel bridge. It was a blast and alot of fun was had by all.

Ryan

Tags: fun, Friends, Relax, Cincinnati

We traveled up by Detroit to my Uncle Dan's house today and I went ice skating with my cousins Amber & Clayton Plemmons, and their friends, the Don Newport family. We all had a good time, and believe it or not I didn't even fall. We are going to the iMax tomorrow for my birthday. Have a great day.

Ryan

Tags: Family, fun, Family, Iceskate

We arrived at the cabin in WV around 9:00 P.M. Monday night. After unpacking and choosing bunks we played a few games of Amish Dice. We then retired and waited for the action to start tomorrow. I should pause here and give you a few significant details. First, one of our main purposes of this trip was to bring as many guns as we could and just have fun shooting them. Growing up, my brother and I used to set up army men in the back flower garden and shoot them with bb guns. So, my brother, Andy, had the brilliant idea to recreate this fun memory. I brought my bb gun and he brought his and we went at it. As much as I hate to admit it, I was soundly defeated in this endeavor. But to this day I'll blame it on faulty sites! Also, during that first night it rained profusely! It really pounded down in torrents on the roof of that cabin. This is significant considering another one of our objectives for this weekend was to go ATV'ing. Can you say mudholes OK, now we can move on to Tuesday, the 26. After putzin around the cabin for a while Andy and I decided to go on our ATV trip. Andy's vehicle of choice was a Honda 3-wheeler, and mine was a Suzuki 4-wheeler. So, we set off. After some light riding around the cabin we decided to head off, planning to be back in 20 min.... 2-3 hours later we returned. But man what a trip! The recent rain left the trails and roads with deep mudholes. We both came close to getting stuck, but with a little effort we managed to escape. There were many beautiful sites, including a number of deer. I will spare you the tale of every stream crossed, and mudhole conquered and simply tell you we had a blast and arrived back at the cabin where Andy made chili and venison steak. The rest of the day consisted of Uno, a quick trip to town, Amish Dice, and more eating. We then retired, sad that tomorrow would end it all. We awoke the next morning to the beginnings of a beautiful day! Andy and I set off again for the trails, this time with my camera in tow. We were disappointed to find that the water had significantly subsided in the night and we were not able to capture the full ATV experience of the day before. Still, we had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures. You can see them here. We then returned to the cabin, packed up and headed out. We arrived at Andy's house around 4:30 that night and I arrived back at my house around 8:00. All in all it was an amazing weekend with many good memories made.

Ryan

Tags: Break, fun, Family, Relax, Photography, ATV